Akai Ito
by RocketGirl3052
Summary: It is said that a red string ties together soul mates who are destined to be together... What happens when Musashi finds her red string?


.net/wiki/Destiny_Knot#Destiny_Knot

.net/wiki/Love_Ball#Love_Ball

.net/wiki/File:Bag_Love_Ball_

.org/wiki/Red_string_of_fate

.com/culture_customs_

"This feels bad!"

The cry rang out as three figured flew through the air and crashed to the desert ground below with a thud. They were the trio of Musashi, Kojiro and Nyasu, Pokemon thieves who tried to be evil, but were really anything but. As usual, their plan to capture Pikachu had sent them blasting off once again. Cries of pain now rang out, as the trio brushed themselves off.

"Ugh, my back. And look at this trash lying around. I think I have some of it stuck to me." Kojiro said, trying to brush himself off.

"Same here." Musashi replied, also dusting herself off. "Wait a second, what's this?" Musashi had found that a pile of red string had clung to her skirt. She picked off the small red object, which appeared to be simply a pile of tangled red string that had been ripped apart. All of the ends had been frayed.

"A ball of yarn!" Nyasu happily bounced up from the ground and snatched the object out of Musashi's hand and started rolling around of the floor with it, happily purring.

"Nyasu, we don't have time to be playing around with trash!" Musashi angrily said.

But the object had caught Kojiro's eye.

"Wait, I think it might be something more than that…" Kojiro searched through his cards, he vagly recalled seeing something like that before.

"It's just a bunch of trash! Let's forget it and get going." Musashi grumpily said.

Kojiro flipped through his cards a bit faster, not wanting to annoy Musashi for too much longer. "Ah! Found it! It's called the Destiny Knot. Also known as the Red Thread."

"Red thread?" Those words caught Musashi's ear. "You mean, as in the red string of fate? The invisible thread that binds two lovers together for all entirety?"

Kojiro gave Musashi a surprised look. "No. I mean the Pokemon item. When it's held…"

Musashi's eyes got wide and a blush appeared on her face. "Ah! The red string of fate has found me at last!" Musashi interrupted Kojiro before he could finish, then grabbed the tattered strings from Nyasu.

"Hey! I was using that! Kojiro said it's a Pokemon item."

Musashi ignored Nyasu. "Do you two know what this means that this object has found me?" Musashi cuddled the strings to her face.

Kojiro started at her dumbfounded. "Musashi… it's just a hold item for Pokemon. And a broken one at that."

"Ah! But that's just it! It has been torn in half, meaning that my lover is waiting for me with the other piece!"

"Huh?" Kojiro was completely lost now.

"Musashi's acting strange again." Nyasu commented.

Musashi placed her hands on her hips. and looked right at the two. "You two don't understand! Fate has brought me to this place to find my true love!"

"But Musashi…" Kojiro then hung his head and sighed in defat. He knew there was no use fighting this.

Musashi spun around, and pointed her free hand in the air. "Now then, the search has begun! Onward to find my true love!"

"But where are we supposed to look? Who knows where the other piece could be." Nyasu said.

"It's close! I can feel it." Musashi replied without turning around.

"You can feel it?" Kojiro asked.

"Yes!" Musashi held the string to her heart and closed her eyes. Even if its physically been torn apart, the spirit still binds it together with the other half. My true love is near by."

Kojiro and Nyasu blinked. Trying to comprehend Musashi's train of thought. "So, just which way do we go?" Kojiro asked, playing along.

Musashi then opened her eyes. "This way!" Musashi pointed right in front of her. Onward to my true love!" Musashi then sprinted ahead.

"Hey Musashi! Wait up!" Kojiro called as he and Nyasu ran to catch up.

Musashi didn't even hear their cries and she ran farther and farther ahead. _This is really it. I'll finally find the happiness I've been searching for since my youth!_

Musashi, Kojiro and Nyasu ran for a few minutes until they hit a forest. Musashi slowed down to a halt.

Kojiro and Nyasu, thankful for a chance to catch their breath, finally caught up to where she was. Musashi looked around sadly.

_Something's not right. I've been running but it doesn't feel like I'm getting any closer. Which way am I supposed to go?_

Kojiro decided to ask what was up, hoping Musashi would give up this chase. "Musashi, what's wrong?"

"Quiet! I'm trying to concentrare!"

Musashi held the string to her heart again and tightly closed her eyes. Straining to try and feel where the other half, and thus her true love, is.

Kojiro and Nyasu sighed and collapsed to the ground.

"How much longer is she going to go with this?" Kojiro whispered to Nyasu.

Nyasu sighed. "She'll probably keep going on forever until she find the other half."

"We can't just chase an illusion forever. There must be someway to convince Musashi to give this up." Kojiro and Nyasu then struck a thinking pose.

Meanwhile, as much as Musashi strained, she just couldn't feel which way to go. Musashi sadly opened her eyes and looked around. _I don't understand. I feel just as close to my true love as before, but there's no one around for miles!_

Kojiro looked up upon hearing Musashi's sighs. What he saw was a heartbroken Musashi. The sight finally hit Kojiro that this really seemed to mean something to her. He started feeling sorry for his best friend and knew what would fix this. He stood up and walked over to Musashi.

"Hey, Musashi."

Musashi jumped and turned around, not expecting anyone to sneak up behind her.

"Look, I may not understand all this, but I know it's not worth seeing you so unhappy!."

"But that's just it Kojiro! If I find my true love I can finally be happy! I don't understand why this isn't working. He's so close! I can _feel_ it!"

"But you have so much to happy about now! Just think, in a few weeks you'll be competing in the Grand Festival! What about your dream to become a Top Coordinator?"

Musashi stood there and thought about it for a few seconds. "Well, that is true." She said with a smile. "But…"

"And you do have the two of us!" Kojiro added before Musashi could finish her sentence. "Maybe we're not your true love, but we do care about you!"

"That's right!" Nyasu jumped up and added. "Don't forget that we're your friends!"

"Well, maybe my true love can wait for awhile. As long as I have this I'll be able to track him down." She smiled and happily looked down at the pile of string in her hand.

This downtime had caused Kojiro to realize that there was still something stuck to his back. He reached around and grabbed it.

"Hey, what's that?" Nyasu asked.

"It must have been stuck to me since we landed" Kojiro replied.

Everyone looked as the object that was removed and saw it was…

"The red… string…" Musashi breathlessly said.

Kojiro slightly blushed. "Well, I guess the string is what you were sensing." He then chuckled, trying to make light of the now awkward situation.

Musashi's mouth fell open and her eyes widened. All she could do was stare at Kojiro. _Kojiro? No, it can't be him… there must be some mistake._

Musashi yanked the string from Kojiro's hand, certain upon closer inspection it would reveal that it was just a regular piece pile of string. Her head quickly moved back and forth from one piece to other, desperately trying to find some difference between the two. But they looked exactly the same. Both pieces were the exact same shade of red, the same texture, and they were both frayed the same way.

Kojiro's heart began to pound. As he saw Musashi's head more back and forth at lightning speed, he knew this wouldn't end well. Musashi had always built the perfect guy up in her head as some dashing handsome man riding in on a Gallop to rescue her from her mundane life. Kojiro knew he was nothing like the man she pictured.

"Nyasu," Kojiro nervously asked his friend, " maybe you should leave us alone for awhile. I think I should talk to Musashi alone."

Nyasu nodded his head. "Good luck." he said, walked off into the distance, hoping that Kojro would be able to calm Musashi down from her inevitable eruption.

Meanwhile, Musashi's head movements had started to slow as tears formed in her eyes. She soon gave up comparing the two, and resigned herself to the fact that they were indeed a match. She lowered her head in defeat.

Kojiro sadly looked at his best friend. Her heart had abeen broken by a man who never existed. He slowly walked up to Musashi.

"Musashi?" he quietly said, trying not to startle her.

"It was just a fantasy after all." Musashi stated in a monotone voice.

"Look, I know the man of your dreams wasn't here this time, but that doesn't mean-"

Musashi's head snapped up and she looked Kojiro right in the eyes with tears in her own. "Kojiro you don't understand!" she began, her voice cracking. I could _feel _it." Musashi pointed to her heart. I could feel my true love! But, but…" Musashi slammed her eyelids tightly shut, fighting back the tears. _I've made a total fool of myself. Proclaiming my true love is here. And now that it's Kojiro what can I do? He's my best friend! But I know what i felt, could Kojiro really be my true love?_

Kojiro frowned. He felt so bad for Musashi and worst of all, he didn't know how to help her. But he couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

"Musashi…" A thought had suddenly occurred to Kojiro. He was unsure about it, but he needed to take a chance for her sake. "Look, I have an idea."

Musashi relaxed her face and looked up, curious what Kojiro had in mind.

"Maybe… uh…" Kojiro started blushing. Saying this wasn't going to be easy. "I know you can feel your true love is tied to this string," Kojiro took his half from Musashi's hand, "so… maybe you're right."

Musashi stood in shock. _What did he just say?_

"Maybe… we are destined to be together, and we just don' know it yet! Isn't that how the old legend about the red string goes?"

"Kojiro…" Musashi couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"So, maybe we could go out on a date or something? Who knows what could happen." Kojiro was smiling, but he was really terrified inside. The idea of Musashi being his potential soul mate scarred him a little. He wasn't sure he felt this way about Musashi, but if giving it a shot would make Musashi feel better, it was worth it.

Musashi smiled, touched that Kojiro was so open to an idea of a relationship with her. "Yeah," she sweetly said while nodded her head, "Maybe we could see how things go." _Could my instinct be right after all? I didn't think I felt this way about Kojiro, but somehow it's starting to feel right._

"Yes, exactly. Well, I guess that settles things then." Kojiro's nerves started to calm down slightly. He was glad this seemed to be doing the trick, and maybe the two of them could have a fun date. It wasn't often he got to spend time alone with Musashi, and he started to look forward to just hanging out with only her for once.

Musashi took Kojiro's hand and started pulling him toward where they first landed.

"It does. Now, where should we go on our date." Musashi gave Kojiro a big smile.

Kojiro giggled at how fast Musashi returned to normal. "Well, I think one of Yuusaku's ramen restaurants is right around here."

"Ah! That's perfect!" Musashi grinned even bigger now.

As the two of them walked off, discussing what their immediate future held, somehow the unbreakable bond the two of them already had, seemed to grow even stronger.


End file.
